


It Continues

by synchronicities



Series: the island gives us what we need [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, a love letter to the entire series in general and rotom in particular
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 14:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11488602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synchronicities/pseuds/synchronicities
Summary: Time passes, and Rotom is there for all of it.





	It Continues

**Author's Note:**

> Me: rotom isn’t in the alola dex so he had to come from sinnoh  
> Me:  
> Me: HMMM
> 
> i didnt think too much about the timeline, but there's thought to be a two-year difference between DPPt and BW1 (based on caitlin's age), then a two-year difference between BW2/XY and SM (based on grimsley's age), so *waves hand* dawn and lucas are 18 or something at the beginning, idk

“Hey, buddy.”

You open your eyes and wince at the uncharacteristically bright sunlight. The human you’ve come to recognize as the professor’s assistant is smiling at you.  _Lucas_ , he said his name was, and you remember the way the syllables sound, but it comes out more like _buzz-bzzt_ when you try saying it. “We’re here. In Alola!”

You cock your head, the word unfamiliar.

He shakes his head. “ _A-lo-la_. The region! Remember? We’ve come here to do a very special job.”

You fly out of the box, and indeed, the plane is descending towards an island surrounded by water – so much water, you can’t believe it! You buzz and chirp in excitement, and the boy chuckles. “Yeah, it’s something else, all right.”

There are lots of beaches on Alola, when you do land. You can tell it’s not just a new experience for you, but also for the humans. Lucas is holding out an orange device at new Pokemon he’s encountering. The dark-haired girl who traveled with you has let her empoleon out, and the blond boy is shrieking with laughter at his torterra’s antics in the water. They’re trainers, then, you deduce. The girl recalls her empoleon, which makes a happy sound as it’s engulfed by the light of the ball.

She grins.

You wonder why you don’t get a Ball.

* * *

 

“You must be Lucas!” Another unfamiliar voice, belonging to an older man. “And the beautiful Champion Dawn. Ain’t it an honor!” The girl – _Dawn_ – blushes. Lucas mostly looks embarrassed. “I trust you brought the goods?”

“When you say it like _that_ it sounds wrong,” Lucas mutters, scowling, but then he turns to you, his face gentling. “Hey, bud. Come on out, huh? Come meet the professor.” You do, and the older man looks at you, delighted.

“Oh, boy, aren’t you something?” He grins widely. “A tried-and-true _Rotom_. C’mon, let me take a look at you.” Lucas nods, and you hover over near the professor, buzzing. He turns to Lucas. “I thought you were bringing an Egg.”

“It hatched earlier than we thought,” Lucas said, chuckling. “We expected that it would hatch when we got here, but it hatched in the airport instead. Professor Rowan had to pull rank for us to let us bring him without a ball.”

The professor laughs too, loud and booming. “Mischievous, this one, huh?” He takes something large and orange out of his bag. “I think that’ll do nicely!”

 “He’s a smart one, too,” says Lucas. You’ve come to recognize his _fond_ voice, and he’s using it now, smiling at you. You hover over to him, and he feeds you a PokeBean. That’s a new thing that you love about Alola. It’s red, your favorite, and you chirp your approval.

“I bred my Rotom with a Ditto,” Dawn explains, speaking up for the first time. “I don’t know if it’ll help, but it spent a lot of time before hatching around Psychic-types, which might make it better understand human language, or that’s what Professor Rowan said.”

“Then I have you to thank for making this happen,” the professor says.

“She’s one of the only people in Sinnoh who’ve caught one,” Lucas explains, to Dawn’s embarrassment. His face is proud when he looks at her, you notice. “She’s almost completed the Sinnoh Dex, give or take a few.”

The professor lights up. “Ah! So you guys–”

“Are ‘Dex Holders,” Dawn finishes. “But we don’t really travel so much anymore…there’s a lot more to do, now that we’re older.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” The Professor grins at them, wide and open. “That’s why someone else’s gotta do it, especially with all of Alola’s Pokemon! And this little guy’s going to help out.”

Dawn smiles and leans forward. “We were so excited when we heard, it’s truly a wonder of engineering,” she says. “Whoever gets it will be lucky.”

“And you’ll do great, huh, buddy?” Lucas is looking at you again. “Be good, okay?”

You don’t understand why he and Dawn are getting up to leave and aren’t bringing you, and you buzz and fly around to indicate your distress, but Lucas merely sends a smile your way. It doesn’t bother you too much, though. You don’t know yet that it’ll be a good five years before you see him again.

* * *

 

Professor Kukui is a kind man. Not as kind as Lucas, of course, but despite being whip-smart and a powerful Trainer he laughs and jokes with you even if you can’t respond, and you can tell that his Pokemon all adore him. He gives you free rein of his laboratory while he finishes the _project_ he’s working on, and you zip in and out of his appliances, fixing his malfunctioning tank filter, possessing his washing machine to run his laundry while he’s out, and flitting in and out of the television to freak out his rockruff. He always laughs, hearty, when that happens.

One day, he brings a girl home. She’s tall for a child, but meek and unimpressive in demeanor – although there’s something about her that makes your metaphorical hackles rise. Nevertheless, she’s nice to you. “She’ll be staying with us for a bit, how’s that, huh?” the professor says, beaming.

 _The professor must like adopting strays, then_ , you think. She looks wide-eyed at you, but gives you a tentative smile.

Lillie’s the one who tells you what the Professor’s up to.  She’s always talking to you, bright-eyed and attentive, and it makes you happy. “It’s brilliant, really,” she says, admiration evident in her eyes. “He was the first person to think about partnering with Pokemon to expand the capabilities of the Pokedex.”

You cock your head at her.

She smiles indulgently, like she can understand you. You like to think she can. “It’s designed for you to use it,” she explains. “Professor Kukui thinks that with your sentience and capability with machinery, there can be lots of new things we can install onto the PokeDex, and improve the interface with the user. It’ll really revolutionize the technology.”

You chirp and waver in the air, confused.

Lillie exhales, smiling fondly. “I suppose you’ll find out soon,” she says. “He’s almost done. Here.” She takes a red PokeBean out of her pocket and moves it towards you, arm outstretched.

* * *

 

The professor shows it to you on a warm, sunny day. “Test drive time, yeah,” he says. He holds out a brick with a screen on it. It reminds you of the one Lucas had, when he was frowning at pyukumuku on the beach, but sleeker, more modern, with a face-shaped screen like –

“The Rotom ‘Dex!” Professor Kukui is grinning. “Here it is, buddy. Let’s take it for a spin, yeah?” He looks first at you, then at the Dex, and then you understand.

Possessing machines is something that comes naturally to your species, the professor had explained, but there’s something different about this machine. It’s not Kukui’s rickety ceiling fan or his messy washing machine. There’s a sense of importance in the trustful smile he directs your way or Lillie’s expectant gaze.  And you _feel_ powerful for a full minute, testing out the machine’s functions. You flip on the GPS, fire up the PokeFinder –

“ _Zzt_ , check it out!” you crow, and it’s only when you see the professor and Lillie’s stunned faces do you realize what happened.

“The language translator function…it worked!” Lillie’s staring, open-mouthed. “A-amazing!”

The professor puts his hands on his hips. “Ah, knew that Bill would come through. And maybe all that Psychic influence you had helped some, too.” He grins at you-in-the-Dex. “This’ll really help out the communication between trainer and ‘Dex, don’t you think? Should be really handy on the road!”

“You can understand me! That’s amazzzing!” you cry, because it’s true. “Profezzor, and Lillie, too!”

“You’re amazing, too, Rotom!” Lillie claps her hands together, and you flutter near her face. She grins at you, touches the orange Pokedex body.

You play around for a bit before it starts to feel a little hot, and you tell them so before zipping out of the machine. It drops in Kukui’s hands, lifeless again, and you find that you miss it. Kukui looks thoughtful. “Huh, looks like something’s up with the insulation. Shouldn’t take too long to fix. In the meantime,” he continues, looking up at you, “That was some test run! Thanks, buddy.”

You grin, and wonder who’ll get you. Someone strong, you hope; someone with the power to take on the Champions that the professor sometimes mentions.

Instead, only two months later, you get a little girl who stares blankly up at you. She’s smaller than Lillie, but with an intensity to her stare that the other girl doesn’t have, and she regards you with barely-visible interest.

 _Well_ , then.

“You’ll be great partners, I hope!” the professor is saying.

She nods.

You _zzt_ halfheartedly, not like she knows. You’ll be the best of friends, maybe.

* * *

 

Moon doesn’t talk much.

Kukui’s conversation could fill a room, and Lillie had spoken in soft but meaningful tones. At first you’re not sure what to make of Moon, who takes nearly everything in stride and only looks straight ahead, face blank.

You try to fill the spaces, though, chatter on about where to go and what type of Pokemon to catch. She befriends them at an enormous rate, and you buzz in happiness and pride whenever you register something new.

“How is my ‘dex going?” she often asks, quiet and methodical. You tell her, and she always smiles a little to herself, proudly, and resolves to do more.

She’s always achieved more by the next time she asks, and over time, you start to see what Kukui saw in her – incredible, untapped talent, but beyond that, great compassion. She begins to talk to you, little things about her life, tidbits about her favorite things, what she thinks about everyone, Lillie and Hau and Gladion and the Professor and his wife. She’s observant, with biting wit, and slowly, you grow fonder of her. You’re there for every step of her challenge, consoling her when she loses and cheering her on when she wins. You’re there when she takes down the Aether Foundation, watching proud and terrified from the sidelines.

She becomes the Champion, to nobody’s surprise, least of all yours, and she flushes when you tell her how proud you are of her.

Moon’s a good Champion, if you were to judge – she works hard at her duties, trains constantly, mentors her challengers, looks out for problems in Alola, and occasionally still goes out to complete the ‘Dex. It’s even less surprising when she actually does complete it, not even three years into her Championship.

“Every single Pokemon that’s ever graced these blasted islands,” the Professor crows, giving her a big hug. “I knew you could do it, Moon. Thank you.”

Hala hosts a party at the Hau’oli beachfront in her honor, and Gladion and Hau come along with the rest of the trial captains, and – it’s nice. Everyone’s a little bit older now, but the love that they’ve all shown you is still firmly there.

Things quiet down for a bit. Moon still performs well as the Alola Champion even as her roster changes – Hau steps up in Hala’s place, for one, and Kahili takes a leave of absence to continue traveling. She meets Lillie when the other girl returns, taller and tanner and with more confidence in her gaze, and hugs her so tight the you wonder if she's ever going to let go, and all of you help Lillie slide back into working for Aether. Things are good.

But one day, Moon brings you and a Pokemon you’ve never seen to the Professor’s house.

“Moon,” Professor Kukui says, holding a book in one hand and his baby in the other. (That’s another thing that’s changed – Professor Burnet took a leave to care for little Neneleau for a few months, but her work’s back in full swing, so it hasn’t been unusual to see the Professor walking around Melemele with his son slung around his chest.) “What brings you here?”

“I got this from a trade,” she tells the Professor, nodding to the Pokemon that’s nestled in her arms. “Its trainer called it a chikorita, but it’s not in the dex.”

“It’s Johtonian,” he says thoughtfully, patting the chikorita on the head. “I’ve seen one before.”

“It’s not in the ‘Dex,” Moon repeats.

“No, it’s not.” Kukui invites you in and watches you as Moon sits down. “I was worried about the limitations of the Rotom Dex’s memory at first – after all, it had to share space with a _Pokemon_. So the drive only contains information about Pokemon known to be commonly found around Alola.” He looks at the chikorita critically. “But if you want to expand it so that it can hold data of Pokemon everywhere, then I can have that done for you.”

“Not just that.” Moon says. Her mouth moves to form that familiar frown that you’ve come to know means she’s dead sure of what she’s about to say, but the next words that come out of her mouth surprise you both. “I want to complete the whole thing.”

* * *

 

“I think she would remember you,” Moon says, hand hovering over the knocker. Her trademark red hat is replaced with something much warmer, and its flaps reach down to her shoulders. “Your egg came from _her_ , after all.”

“But it’szz been years,” you say.

“I think she’d remember her first trip to Alola,” she replies. “Just like I’m sure I’m not forgetting this. This is my first trip to Sinnoh.”

“I know,” you tell her. “Your mom kept panicking about your packing.” She had, though

“She’s better at packing than she is at unpacking,” she says, smiling, and you chuckle as best as you can. The climate is fine for you, but Moon’s mother had fretted about Sinnoh’s cold climate, and had severely overpacked for the monthlong trip.

The door opens before Moon can knock, and there’s a young man behind it peering down at Moon, hair messy and glasses askew. His brow furrows in confusion, before –

 _“Lucas_!” you say, hypothetical jaw dropping open. You fly over to him.

His eyes widen in recognition. “ _Rotom_! Then–you–”

“My name is Moon,” Moon says. “I’m the Alolan Champion. And I have something to ask from you.”

Lucas blinks, kind of stupidly, and it’s endearingly familiar, despite the more angular geometry his face has taken on since you last met, before he breaks out into a very wide grin. “Hold on just a moment,” he says, before turning back inside. “ _Dawn_! You’ll wanna see this!”

* * *

 

“Completing the International Dex,” you can hear Dawn say from the living room, but you’re busy following Lucas as he patters around Dawn’s apartment, sitting on his shoulder as he works, while the ‘dex lies in Moon’s palms. He’s more confident now, surer of his actions, and you note with pride the diplomas (from him) and the trophies and ribbons (from Dawn) on the walls, the little framed photographs of their families and friends. “That’s – hmm.”

“It’s not so impossible,” Moon says. “A lot of it will be co-opting existing data, and then catching the ones that don’t have data on them anywhere. I’ll probably be needing to catch ones from each region, too, so I can compare the differences.”

Lucas sits down next to her, and you note silently how easily Dawn shifts to accommodate him, how she leans into him after he’s made himself comfortable. _That’s_ new. “It’s a lot of work,” he says. “Times are changing. Pokemon might not be found in the same places.”

“It’s a good start, though,” Dawn muses. “If she does complete the International Dex – that’s a treasure trove of data by itself. Bebe did say that nearly everything’s in the cloud now, and she wants to work on a system that kind of…crowdsources Pokemon data. Something like this could be what we need to jumpstart the whole thing.”

“So as soon as trainers catch Pokemon, that data’s immediately added to the online system, updating what’s already there,” Lucas murmurs, following her train of thought. He looks from Moon to you, his face relaxing into a smile. “Well, if anyone can do it, it’s Moon and Rotom, I suppose.”

Dawn nods firmly, like she’s made up her mind. “Well, come on,” she says, moving to the small office in the adjacent room. You and Moon follow her. She opens a drawer from the heavy desk, and the trademark orange of the Pokedex appears in her hands. “I never did get around to completing it,” she says, voice wistful. “I’m glad that someone will.”

“Rotom,” Moon whispers, and you understand. You leave the ‘Dex, hovering somewhere behind her head, making her hair frizz up. She swats you away playfully, before taking the hard drive out of your ‘Dex and handing it to Lucas.

Lucas boots up the sleek-looking computer. “Here we go, then,” he says, decisively clicking the button that says _transfer_. He grins boyishly up at Moon and Dawn when the transfer completes, handing Moon back the drive. “That should do it.” Moon slides it back in before looking to you, and you zip inside with no complaints.

It’s – weird.

Flashes of Pokemon flood your vision – some familiar ones like machamp or Dawn’s empoleon, but more often than not ones you’ve never seen – vespiquen, staravia, chimecho, skuntank, even on rotom, which you realize may have been your parent, powerful ones like giratina and _arceus_ – it’s dizzying, amazing, thrilling to know that there’s a whole new region of Pokemon you haven’t met, and that – if Dawn and Moon are to be believed – there are even more.

“Thizz izz incredible,” you find yourself saying. “Dawn, I had no idea you caught so many.”

She flushes. “I had a lot of help,” she says.

Lucas smiles encouragingly. “I can direct you to where the ones Dawn and I haven’t caught can be found,” he tells Moon. “They’re all quite far from here, so–” He fishes around in the drawer and brings out a floppy disk. “I know you can’t call on Ride Pokemon here,” he explains, handing her the disk.

“Thank you,” Moon says. “This is a great help.”

“And if you’re heading to Kalos afterwards, I’ll give you Trevor’s contact information,” he adds. “He’s the leading expert on Kalosian Pokemon now.”

“And if you need any more help at all, call me or Lucas,” Dawn adds, as she walks you to the door. “Although–” they share a look. “I don’t think you’ll run into too many problems.”

“You’re doing great,” Lucas says, both to you and to Moon. “I always knew you would.”

* * *

 

This is how it goes for the next years. Moon formally passes on the Championship to Hau, travels, visits professors and PokeDex holders around the world, takes it upon herself to fill the missing holes. Her steel spine doesn’t change much as she grows older, but she does become softer, even if most of the time only you’re the one around to witness the change. Her will to complete the 'Dex doesn't stop, though, and you wonder about it as you move from place to place.

“Don’t you ever mizz Alola?” you ask her as you travel through an old Johtonian heritage town, looking for suicine. “All the – _bzzt_ – sand and sunshine? Cherry blossoms are no subszztitute.”

“Don’t tell me you of all people are homesick,” she quips, smiling. “You were the one so eager to see the world, or something.”

“’Twazz just a babe when I was ripped from my mother’s armsz, szo I consider Alola my home,” you say, as solemnly as you can. It makes her smile, and you feel a rush of fondness. Those are hard to come by. You’ve come to realize over the years that Moon is quiet, determined, and strong-willed as she is lonely, and anything to mitigate that is a victory in your eyes.

It’s not always easy. There are times she finds herself frustrated while on the hunt for a certain Pokemon, emotion and tears spilling out and boiling over. Sometimes you wake to see her staring out the window, or hovering over the call button on her phone. Sometimes news arrives a week or so too late – Kukui’s son attended his first day of school, Mallow takes over her family’s restaurant, Nanu retires, Hau gets his own place in the city. She won’t admit it, but you know she does miss the vibrant hustle of Alola, has grown to consider it her home too, and the two of you flip through photos old and new on her phone and the Dex.

But she has you, and you have her. Somehow, through the years, you make it work.

* * *

 

Neither Hilbert nor Rosa had gotten around to capturing Keldeo, but Rosa had been all too happy to supply tips on its location – and thus, Keldeo is the last Pokemon Moon catches in Unova. The familiar energy fills you as you approach the ball clutched in her hand, and you feel the machine gathering data on her new equine capture. "Zzzrt! You registered another Legendary Pokémon! That's, well, legendary! Let'zzz check it out!” She grins at you. _It crosses the world, running over the surfaces of oceans and rivers. It appears at scenic waterfronts_ – you say, without even thinking.

“THAT’SZZ IT!” you say. “All eight hundred and three. Unbelieeeevable! You did it, clever girl! I always knew you could!”

Moon flushes, like she always does when you compliment her, and smiles, tired. You make a note to ask her to get some rest. She lets out the Keldeo, which looks at her with wide, trusting eyes.

“You were a tough one, weren’t you?” she’s murmuring, running her hands down its mane. “You can go free. Thank you for trusting me enough to capture you, even if just for a little while. Your friends are all right, too, I promise.”

She hands it a PokeBlock. Keldeo whinnies in delight, and you barely have time to update the information you have on its cry before it’s gone, bounding into the forest downstream. She stares after it, contemplative.

“Zzz…what now?” you feel compelled to ask.

She shrugs. “Well,” she says, her face neutral, but you recognize the hope and excitement brimming beneath it. “We’re going home.”

* * *

 

It makes headlines around the world, of course – the first PokeDex to contain data of all eight hundred and three known Pokemon.

“Look at that,” Blue says at the press conference in Pallet Town. He’s here in lieu of his grandfather, who’d been too ill to attend. You remember him from the Battle Tree, and the youthful immortality of one’s early twenties is starting to leave him – he’s bulking up, crow’s feet lining his eyes, but the familiar way he puts his arm around Red and Leaf – yes, that hasn’t changed. “You should’ve seen Gramps when he heard the news. Bawled his eyes out, he did.”

Red grunts, and Leaf smiles accommodatingly. “It was his grandfather who started all this,” she tells Moon. “The accumulation of scientific data on Pokemon, and studying the relationships between humans and Pokemon. And you realized his dream.” Moon has told you, in bits and pieces, about the previous editions of the ‘Dex, how they had gotten more advanced over the years, with new features and better specs – “But you were top of the line,” she had said, crescent smile directed at you.

(You’re not state-of-the-art anymore, though – newer models, more efficient at data gathering, have come out since, but still – they don’t have all eight-hundred-and-three, and the thought still makes you flush with pride.)

“It wasn’t just me,” Moon says, embarrassed. “I just added in a lot of preexisting data from outside Alola. This is as much Red’s achievement, and the others from the other regions.”

“But still,” Leaf says, “We didn’t even _think_ of collaborating like that, and we gave up on catching the ones we couldn’t.”

“Arceus, that’s–” Blue realizes what he’s saying, and gapes at her. “Hell, that thing has data on _Arceus_.”

“…That was Dawn,” Moon insists, even though you sometimes buzz with amazement at having _Arceus’s_ data recorded on the ‘Dex. “Dawn’s fifteen-year-old data. Not mine.”

Red looks from you to Leaf to Blue to Moon. “You have to give yourself some credit,” he says, gruffly. It’s the most you’ve ever heard him speak. Moon gapes at him, and he flushes and ducks his head, his cap obscuring his face. “It’s amazing.”

Moon turns a brilliant scarlet and can barely murmur a _thank you_ before she’s pulled away by computer scientists, looking to put the data online like what Lucas and Dawn said, and you go with her.

* * *

You make your way back to Alola as soon as you can, and there's nothing quite as precious as the brief flash of Moon's teeth as the plane begins to descend. There's a welcoming party at the airport, of course - her mother, the Professor, Lillie and Gladion, people she'd met and taught and who'd loved her, and Moon actually  _cries_. They're done, and they're home.

Time passes.

New Pokemon are discovered, and new Pokedex models are built, taking advantage of the system that your data put in place. Moon finally retires from professional training– she’d burned bright for a long time, and deserves her rest, she tells the press. “It’s time for someone new to take over,” she says, and you remember Kukui telling the same to Lucas and Dawn, so long ago.

You wonder how Lucas and Dawn are doing, all the way across the world. Not for the first time, you think about how humans’ lives fly by so quickly.

One day, Moon takes over the Nursery in Paniola Town, saying that she never wants to stop being around Pokemon, but she offers you an out.

“You can go back to the Professor, if staying in one place isn’t for you,” she says, watching you intently. “If you’d like to travel some more, I’m sure he’ll find a companion easily.”

The suggestion is outrageous, and you buzz indignantly to let her know. “You think I wanna hang out with some ten-year-old after all that time I spent watching you? Don’t think so,” you say, petulant. “I don’t know much about nurseriezz, though,” you add, hovering next to her cheek. “I was born in one, but that’szz it.”

She smiles at you. “Of course, neither do I,” she says. “But thank you, Rotom. I couldn’t imagine training without you around, and I’m sure you’ll continue to be a great help.”

It makes you happy. She’s grown into such a kind woman, more open with her thoughts and feelings than the sullen eleven-year-old she was when you first met, and she takes to Breeding with little difficulty. She has a way with the Pokemon you’ve seen very few people match, and they’re easily comfortable with each other and in the nursery. She lives quietly for someone who had enjoyed such fame in her youth, but you can read the loving way she tends her Berry trees and feeds the Pokemon entrusted to her and – she’s content, despite everything.

“Zzt, you hated egg-watching,” you tease, as she lets her talonflame roost over a few newly-hatched eggs like they were its own.

She shrugs, raises an eyebrow. “Things change.” She looks you over. “Have you ever thought about learning how to battle?”

“No,” you tell her. “But I wouldn’t mind learning if the opportunity prezzented itself.”

“Well,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. It’s a gesture so girlish that for a second you see her, twelve years old, on top of the Alolan world. “Looks like it’s time for me to teach you things, this time.”

* * *

 

In recent years, you’ve been spending more time out of the ‘Dex than in it, flitting in and out of various appliances in Moon’s home. She always sighs in appreciation when you watch her laundry so she doesn’t have to, or turn on the fan when it gets hot, or work with her decidueye in heating her dinner. Although she takes longer in getting ready in the morning and she begins to move slower, her eyes are bright and her wit is sharp as ever.  

You remember Kukui’s booming laughter so many years ago, and the thought makes you sad.

“What would I do without you,” she says, smiling at you after you make her one of the berry smoothies she was so fond of in her youth. The years have dug creases into her brow but also laughter lines around her eyes.

Before, you would have flown back into the ‘Dex, twittered something nice back at her, but now you float near her face and nuzzle her cheek. She chuckles, rough and dry, a far cry from the high, rare laughter you had coveted in her youth, but it’s _something_.

Then one day, you wake up and she’s not there.

It takes you only eighteen seconds to zip around her small house, checking every nook, cranny, and appliance for clues on where she could’ve gone, but nothing turns up. You resign yourself to flitting about the Eggs to be claimed by trainers, noting which ones need special care and directing Moon’s Pokemon around the ranch to help out, before you hear the front door open.

A familiar silhouette stands in the doorway, and you sigh with relief, flying back inside the ‘Dex and feeling the familiar language functions returning to you.

“Hau,” you say, floating up to him. “Where’zz Moon?”

He turns his head towards you. Not for the first time, you think of how he’s come to resemble dear Hala in his old age – and surely now more than ever, when worry lines run across his forehead and his eyes look tired. “Rotom,” Hau says. “We all knew it was coming, but she always said she was fine… god, what happened to her dad, we–”

“Izz she gonna be okay?”

Lillie comes up behind him. Youth hasn’t left her as easily as it has Hau or Moon, and the high cheekbones and bright eyes that had lent her mother the illusion of youth when you had first met have blessed Lillie and her brother with equally graceful aging. You fly over and greet her, too. For a second, you see her as a girl, a PokeBean in her small hand.

“Oh, Rotom,” she says, crow’s feet crinkling, and the illusion shatters. “She’s in the hospital. We’re all praying and hoping for the best.”

“She’zz a fighter,” you say, rather lamely. But you know it to be true, even as a sinking feeling grows. 

“C’mon, then,” Hau says, gruff. “She told me to look out for you. How ‘bout we go visit her now, huh?”

He’s holding something in his hand, and it takes you a second to realize what it is. You look from Lillie to Hau, and then – you agree.

You leave the ‘Dex.

You go into the ball, and it feels like coming home.

**Author's Note:**

> “Time does not pass, it continues.” -Marty Rubin


End file.
